Malaysia interested in visa waiver programme

Malaysia has expressed interest to participate in the United States (US)'s Visa Waiver Programme.

The matter was brought up during talks between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and visiting US President Barack Obama here Sunday.

Najib, in a joint press conference with Obama, thanked the US President for agreeing to consider Malaysia's participation in the programme.

"I am glad that the US is now committed to provide technical briefings, security requirements and information sharing agreements for this purpose," he said.

Obama, in responding to the issue in a question-and-answer session with the media said, the US had a very clear set of laws and provisions of how countries could qualify for the programme.

However, his team was prepared to work with the Malaysian government to go through various steps relating to the matter, he said.

"Typically it takes some time. It is not something that happens overnight because we have to make sure that the kind of information sharing, the reporting about lost and stolen passports, terrorist watchlists, that all those pieces are in place before it is facilitated.

"But given the growing and expanding trade that exists and people-to-people relations between Malaysia and the United States, I want to make sure that we can start down the path," he said.

The Visa Waiver programme allows citizens of participating countries to travel to the US without a visa for stays of 90 days or less.

Thus far, 37 countries are participants of the programme.

Among them are Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan, from the Asian region.